There has been a frisson of excitement with a well-known regional boys’ school, The Armidale School (TAS), choosing to become co-educational in 2016. The media have latched on to this and have been exploring the relative virtues of co-education as opposed to single-sex schooling. The temperature can rise somewhat when this matter is debated. Why? …

Early next term, I will have the privilege of joining with 19 Headmasters to have a bit of a chat about education in the 21st century. Hosted by Sir Anthony Seldon of Wellington College and embracing schools such as Eton (GB), Deerfield Academy and St Philip’s Exeter (USA), Bishops (South Africa), the Doon School (India) …

The question of whether the paying of independent school fees is worth it tends to re-emerge from time-to-time. Debate is usually fuelled by opponents of non-government schools who have a vested interest in seeing the sector decline in significance – think unions and movements like ‘Save our Schools’. Care is needed when digesting the information …

It’s the start of a new academic year. This brings with it a number of attendant duties – one of which is for me to end the holiday reverie of my boys and introduce them to the prospect of work. Although not joyous news, the boys listened readily enough to the hopes I had for …

Quite frankly, it was ridiculous. Having eight different school curricula in a country of only 22 million was inefficient. So, Kevin ‘07 gets a big tick from me for introducing a National Curriculum. Given this was a few years’ ago and there have been a few political assassinations and a change of Federal government since, …

There has been a frisson of excitement with a well-known regional boys’ school, The Armidale School (TAS), choosing to become co-educational in 2016. The media have latched on to this and have been exploring the relative virtues of co-education as opposed to single-sex schooling.

The temperature can rise somewhat when this matter is debated. Why? Because we all attended schools. Because we all know something about schools. Because all our views are valid.

It would be totally inappropriate for me to comment on the TAS decision. TAS are masters of their own business and have every right to determine the character of their educational offering. However, it is appropriate to make a few comments on the broader issue of which is better – co-education or single sex.

Why do I say this? I say this because I’ve been the head of a large co-educational school in Victoria, St Leonard’s College in East Brighton. And I say this because I’ve been the head of a large single-sex school in NSW, The King’s School in Parramatta. Both are great schools. Neither is better than the other.

The debate as to which is better, is unwinnable, and thankfully so because Australia needs both types of schools. This is because some students do better in a single-sex setting and other students do better in a co-educational setting.

One of the key roles played by the independent sector of education is to provide Australian families with choice. They can choose between faith-based schools and secular, low-fee or high-fee, co-education or single-sex. If all our schools were the same, we would not be able to offer choice. Therefore, we must recognise the legitimacy of schools that provide an educational offering which we may not be attracted to. Bother!

We must also recognise that there are far more important variables than gender make-up that determine educational quality. Despite compelling testimony shared over the barbequed lamb and lemon meringue pie that co-education or single-sex is better, it is the quality of teaching that really matters. To this can be added other things like, leadership, values and those intangibles of school tone and ethos.

Way down the list – and it’s a long way down the list – is the matter of co-education or single sex. The truth is there are good co-ed schools and bad co-ed schools. There are good single-sex schools and bad single-sex schools. Therefore, the debate will never result in a winner. There are learned papers and research conclusions to be found on any position one wants to advance on this matter.

So – which is better? They both are.
‘Bother’!

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Permanent link to this article: http://www.timhawkes.com/co-ed-v-single-sex/

About Me

Tim is one of Australia’s best known educators. He has been a Headmaster of leading schools for over 20 years and is the author of several books. A regular contributor to educational debate on radio and television, Tim is frequently invited to be a speaker at conferences around the world.